What is your writing style?
What I have learned from the many books I have read about the craft of writing is that every writer has a different style of writing. There are many different methods, so-called secrets, formula and styles employed by successful writers.
Meticulous Planners
Some writers are meticulous planners. They plan the whole plot of a story or novel from the beginning to the end. Some use large sheets of paper and map out all the details; characters, settings, twists in the plot, sub-plots and so many other aspects of their story. Others use pieces of paper or post it stickers and rearrange all their notes until they make some sort of logical sequence. This type of writer may spend months or even years in this planning stage. The actual writing may then only take a few weeks or several months at most.
Seat of the Pants writers
Then you have those writers who come up with just a single thought, idea or snippet of dialogue and this is the sum total of their plan. This type of writer can sit at a keyboard and start writing, letting the story and the characters literally take over the plot line. This is “writing by the seat of your pants†type of writing. It can be very exciting if it works – or it can be very frustrating if it doesn’t.
Different styles:
In between these two extremes you have a whole range of approaches to writing. Some writers do some planning at the beginning, others may stop half way through and plan the ending. There seems to as many different styles of getting down that story as there are writers.
My Writing style:
As I develop as a writer I find that more and more I am able to write “on demand.†Blogging has done that for me. The goal of writing a new article every day keeps me accountable to myself. I find inspiration all around me and now I rarely struggle to come up with ideas. Often I feel swamped with ideas with too many to use.
I also find that I can write almost anywhere. I have my favourite spot of course but now I have a laptop I am very flexible in where I write. I sometimes write with music in the background, sometimes even with the television going.
I get a real buzz out of thinking of a setting, a character’s name or some other starting point for a story. I then start writing, letting the story or the characters take over. Discovering where the story or characters take me is just like reading a novel or story for the first time; you don’t know the ending. Sometimes the ending is as much a surprise to me as it is to the reader. Risky – yes; exhilarating – certainly.
To read more on this topic, read the article in the link below. It was written by Adelaide crime and romance author, Kirsty Brooks.
Related article:
· Writing fiction – planning your story or writing by the seat of your pants: individual writing styles written by Kirsty Brooks.
What is your writing style?
Tell me about it by leaving a comment.
Idiom #11: A lame duck
1 Comment »8th January, 2007; Category: Idioms
This week’s idiom:
“A lame duck”
Meanings:
A person who is no longer effective whatever role they have. Also used in describing a failed business, enterprise or organisation.
Origins:
The origin of this saying could come from the observation that a duck with damaged or injured web feet, a lame duck, would be unable to swim properly. It could also originate from the practice of clipping a bird’s wings and thus rendering it flightless.
The first use of this term seems to have been in the London Stock Exchange in the 18th century, and it has more often been applied in recent times to the political scene. One source I discovered says this:
A lame duck (I suppose I ought to call it “flight-challenged”) is one unable to keep up with the flock and who is thus easy prey for predators. The phrase “lame duck” was first applied on the London Stock Exchange in the 18th century to brokers who could not pay their debts. Beginning in 19th-century America, “lame duck” was used to describe a Congressional representative who had failed to hornswoggle the voters into re- electing him in November, but who was not due, under the Constitution, to actually be booted out until the following March. Thus freed of even the pretense of accountability to the voters, such “lame ducks” usually voted themselves a scandalous jackpot of perks, until a stop was put to the practice by the “Lame Duck Amendment” of 1934. Today, new Congresspeople take office in January, their defeated opponents no longer have an opportunity to loot and pillage on their way out, and thus Congress has become a temple of honesty.
From The Word Detective website.
Real life example:
- Interesting, a few weeks ago I actually saw a real lame duck. We were having a picnic lunch on the banks of the River Murray in Mannum, South Australia. Two Pacific Black Ducks flew in to see if they could score a free feed. One landed normally, the other with a belly flop on to the grass. It had a damaged leg and could only shuffle along on the grass. Otherwise, it looked perfectly healthy and was obviously coping very well. That was one successful lame duck!!
Usage:
- The committee has not made a decision in over three months; it’s certainly a lame duck.
Haiku #28: Ancient Gum Trees
Ancient gums trace
High water marks around
The grey shoreline.
All rights reserved.
Copyright 2007 Trevor W. Hampel
To read more of my poetry click here.
Poem #21: Diamonds in the Sun
No Comments »5th January, 2007; Category: Poetry
Diamonds in the Sun
The air was cold.
The breeze blew gently
From the sea beyond
The hills of hazy blue.
It had rained not
Long before, and tiny
Drops of water lingered
Still on shiny leaves.
The sun soon rose,
Catching each little drop
In its tender rays
Of heavenly gold.
The drops began
To sparkle in the
Light like so many
Diamonds on the trees.But soon the warm
Caress of gold had
Swallowed up the beauty
It had created.
All rights reserved.
Copyright 2007 Trevor W. Hampel
To read more of my poetry click here.